Jury allows Bible to determine man's fate

That a travesty such as this can happen in the United States in the year, 2009, is unbelievable. It is also a testimony to the growth of a type of fundamentalist christianism that has infected so many of our people and our systems; an infection that is a real and present threat to our constitutional democracy.

It happened in Texas (which, for some reason, is not all that surprising). At the trial of one Khristian Oliver, who does not appear to be a nice man at all. In 1999, Oliver instigated a burglary of a home during which he shot the homeowner in the face and then proceeded to beat the homeowner with the latter's rifle.

At the trial, as the story goes, the jury met to determine whether or not Oliver deserved the death penalty for his crime. It appears the jury decided the way to do that was to check to see what the Bible has to say.

Yup. Evidently four Bibles were present at this jury session, all with certain passages highlighted. According to an article by Tom Leonard at the Telegraph Company, a juror reportedly read aloud sections of the Bible, one of which included this passage: "'And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.'"

Defense lawyers screamed bloody murder (pardon the pun) and appealed. The trial judge rejected their appeal, and the judge was upheld by a Texas appeals court.

More appeals. Then last year, according to Leonard, "a federal appeals court ruled ... that while the Bible should not have been allowed into the deliberation room at Oliver's trial, there was no clear evidence to indicate they had influenced the juror's decision."

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the case.

So, Oliver is set to die on November 5.


Now, whether you are for or against capital punishment, it is specious to argue as did the federal appeals court that, because there was no evidence the jurors were swayed by the Bible readings, the jurors were not swayed by the Bible readings. Just the fact that at least one Bible passage was read aloud which clearly implicated Oliver as a murderer according to Holy Writ and therefore, deserved to die, should have caused the sentence to be tossed.

Against the federal appeals court ruling, it appears that the judges forgot one important point: This country is not ruled by the Bible but by the Constitution! The Bible does not belong in a jury room and the sentence should have been invalidated for that reason alone! Furthermore, while there may not be "evidence" the jurors were swayed by the reading of a Bible passage, neither is there evidence they were not swayed by the biblical message.

Common sense, it seems, got thrown out in this case.


Leonard notes that "Kate Allen, Amnesty International's UK director, said Oliver's trial was a 'travesty.'"

Yes, it was. We, as Americans, are better than this. Especially those of us who don't try to make the scribblings of ancient and ignorant tribesmen ruled by a bloodthirsty god the law of the land!